The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust is looking to expand a charity partnership which sees volunteers with dogs visit hospital patients and vulnerable older people in their own homes to fight loneliness.
The Doggies on Prescription scheme, which the trust runs with the Wag & Company organisation, launched in 2018. It expanded from providing visits with older people in the community to visits to wards at Hexham General Hospital.
Now, visits take place across the trust's hospitals in Northumberland and North Tyneside and in the community. Nigel Gray and his American cockapoo Whitley have become firm friends, and "almost adopted" by the hospital trust.
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And with demand high, the scheme is calling for volunteer dog-owners to get in touch. Diane Morton, chief executive and chair of Wag and Company, said: "Our partnership with Northumbria Healthcare is a really special one and it’s fantastic how friendship dog Whitley has been ‘adopted’ as the trust’s dog, visiting staff on a regular basis.
“We are very grateful for the support of the trust’s Bright charity too, but demand is huge and we currently have 212 care and medical placements on our waiting list.
Recruiting new, and retaining existing, volunteers is an ongoing challenge, which is why I would really encourage anyone interested in making a real difference to people’s lives by providing a friendship dog to get in touch. You would be amazed how much it can brighten someone’s day.”
Brenda Longstaff, head of the Bright charity, added: "The impact of loneliness and isolation on someone’s health and wellbeing is widely recognised, so we are keen supporters of our ongoing partnership with Wag and Company.
"Our role is to fund things that the NHS does not but which support a better experience for our patients and staff. The visits by Whitley and other friendship dogs are a perfect example of how something a little bit different can have a huge positive impact."
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